Chivas USA’s First Team received a pleasant surprise after Friday’s training session upon seeing over 50 kids waiting to meet them. The youngsters, along with their parents and coaches, were visiting from Chivas Pomona, affiliate club of Chivas USA which includes U9, U10, U11, and U13 teams.

The future soccer stars arrived just in time when the Red-and-White’s training session kicked off at 9:30 in the morning on Friday. As special guests, the group obtained the opportunity to go down to the field and watch first-hand how professional soccer players train. The kids anxiously watched training, pointing out their favorite players in the squad and waiting for the ball to come near them so that they could kick it back.

Upon Head Coach Jose Luis Real calling the end of the session, the wish and happiness of the kids increased by the moment. One-by-one, the Chivas USA players approached the group and began taking pictures and signing autographs to the young players who dream of becoming professionals one day.

Chivas USA will host their last training session of the week on Saturday morning ahead of Sunday’s match against the New York Red Bulls. For all the latest updates on Chivas USA, follow us on Twitter: @cdchivasusa.

Big week ahead for Chivas USA as Rivalry Week looms over MLS and the first SuperClásico of the season is four days away.

Coach Jose Luis Sanchez Solá, “El Chelis,” travelled to Mexico after Sunday’s game; his third grandchild was born on Thursday. Chelis returned to training Wednesday morning to continue working towards Sunday’s game against the LA Galaxy.

After the end of Sunday’s game, the scoreboard and passing accuracy percentage were positive for Chivas, a turnaround from the first game of the season. The Goats continued perfecting this skill in Wednesday’s training, as well as working on strength and conditioning.

Two former Chivas USA Academy players joined the First Team for training this morning. Eric Gonzalez, a freshman at UC Riverside, and Brendan Hines-Ike, a freshman at Creighton University, played for the Red-and-White U18’s last season. The two players will be at training camp with the Goats for the rest of the week.

Chivas USA will train everyday this week at 10:30 am at The Home Depot Center’s Field 6. For all training updates, follow us on Twitter: @cdchivasusa

After Saturday’s loss to Columbus in the season’s opening match, Chivas USA’s coach Jose Luis Sanchez Solá, “El Chelis,” admitted that the team lacked attack. Wednesday morning the Red-and-White focused on perfecting the attack in order to earn their first victory this Sunday against FC Dallas at The Home Depot Center.

“Since I’ve been here, the team has worked on scoring goals and we weren’t able to do that in the first game,” Coach Chelis said after practice.

With goalkeepers working separately, the team kicked off training with five separate 4v1 games. All players worked on speed strength training exercises, including midfielder Jorge Villafaña, who has been recovering from an ankle sprain. Led by Coach Chelis, the team moved on to an inter-squad scrimmage, focusing on attacking and finishing plays.

Thirty minutes into the inter-squad scrimmage, Coach Chelis called it a day yelling, “Good job! We’ll continue this tomorrow.” Chivas USA’s training on Thursday will be held at The Home Depot Center’s main stadium starting at 10 a.m. Due to location, fans will not be able to attend Thursday’s practice, but are encouraged to come out Friday morning for training at The Home Depot Center’s Field 6.

With just eight days until the start of the 2013 MLS season, Chivas USA hit the field to continue working towards the March 2nd match against Columbus Crew at The Home Depot Center.

Led by assistant coach Isidro Sanchez, half the squad worked on finishing plays, while the other half enjoyed playing a game of soccer tennis. Halfway through training, groups switched activities. Training separately, midfielders Oswaldo Minda and Jorge Villafaña continue recovering from their injuries.

Coach Jose Luis Sanchez Solá, also known as ‘El Chelis,’ was not in training this week, but returns to Los Angeles on Friday and will be in the Red-and-White’s scrimmage on Saturday.

The Red-and-White will host LA Blues on Saturday at The Home Depot Center’s Field 4 starting at 11 a.m. PT. Chivas USA sits undefeated in preseason, most recently playing South Korea’s Gangwon FC to a scoreless draw at Titan Stadium. For team updates, make sure to follow Chivas USA on Twitter: @cdchivasusa

The team was in good spirits as they arrived at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas for training where a group of fans came out to watch practice. Led by Coach Jose Luis Sanchez Solá, also known as “El Chelis,” Chivas continued working on what coach has focused since start of preseason: finishing plays.

To finalize training, Coach Chelis split the group up into two squads for a scrimmage: MLS veterans against rookies. The scrimmage came with a twist; defender Bobby Burling was at goal for the veterans and midfielder Edgar Mejia for the rookies while goalkeeper Dan Kennedy played forward. At the end of the match, the veterans took the victory over the rookies; Kennedy scored two goals for the winning team.

The Red-and-White will face Colorado at 7:30 pm at Sam Boyd Stadium. Fans not attending the game can follow match updates on our Twitter feed: @cdchivasusa

With a little over a month until the first MLS match of the season, Chivas USA hit The Home Depot Center’s Field 6 for Day 10 of preseason.

Coach Jose Luis ‘Chelis’ Sanchez Solá spoke with the team prior to starting practice and explained what the objective was for that training: improve fitness and passes. Since the start of preseason, Chivas USA President Jose David has enjoyed the team’s training, watching the team work together to improve on a daily basis. And so far, he likes what he sees.

“I’m very happy with the way the team has been coming together,” said David. “Chelis has brought this unique way of training and the players have embraced it very well. We can’t wait to get the 2013 season started.”

Chivas USA will return to training on Tuesdayto continue preparing for their upcoming scrimmage, scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 11 a.m. against the Santa Clarita Storm at The Home Depot Center Field 6. Fans are welcome to come out and support the Red-and-White; entry and parking are at no cost. To get the latest updates on Chivas USA’s training sessions and upcoming games, follow us on Twitter: @cdchivasusa

After a day off, Chivas USA returned to The Home Depot Center for training this morning ahead of Saturday’s final home match against the Colorado Rapids.

Ante Jazic and Oswaldo Minda returned to Los Angeles to continue training with the club after being out for international duty. The Canadian defender did not appear in Les Rouges’ brutal 8-1 loss to Honduras that lead to their elimination from World Cup contention on Tuesday due to sinus and ear infections. This morning, both Jazic and Minda held a regenerative session with trainers.

“Today, I’m feeling much better than I did yesterday; physically, I’m okay, mentally, still disturbed about the result on Tuesday,” Jazic said.

The Ecuadorian midfielder arrived in Los Angeles early this morning and reported straight to Chivas USA training. Minda played 20 minutes in Ecuador’s 1-1 draw with Venezuela; the draw helped La Tri move up to second place in CONMEBOL standings and closer to World Cup contention.

Although the two have made long trips in the past week, they will be eligible for this Saturday’s match against Colorado.

“In the end of the day, Coach [Fraser] will have the final word,” said Minda. “If he needs me for a couple of minutes, I’ll be there, and if he needs me for the entire game, I’ll be ready.”